Blue turf mastermind, 3 national champs, Super Bowl winner among Boise State inductees
Before it became a college football icon, Boise State’s blue turf was just an idea floating around in Gene Bleymaier’s head.
The idea alone makes Bleymaier a worthy candidate for the Boise State Athletics Hall of Fame, but there is so much more to his nearly 30-year tenure as the Broncos’ athletic director.
Boise State announced Thursday that Bleymaier and five former Boise State standouts will make up the Broncos’ 2020 Hall of Fame class. The ceremony is tentatively scheduled for Friday, Sept. 4, in advance of the Broncos’ football home opener against Georgia Southern.
“It means everything,” Bleymaier told the Idaho Statesman in a phone interview. “Obviously those 30 years at Boise State were an incredible time for myself and my family, and exciting times in Boise. We were just very fortunate to have been able to work with great coaches and great staff and together have the success that we had.”
Bleymaier served as the Broncos’ athletic director from February 1982 to September 2011, when he was controversially fired by then-President Bob Kustra. During Bleymaier’s tenure, Boise State sports teams won 102 conference championships in 18 different sports and made conference transitions from the Big Sky to the Big West to the Western Athletic to the Mountain West.
He oversaw the construction of more than $125 million in athletic facilities, brought the Idaho Sports Medicine Institute to campus and founded Boise’s annual college football bowl game, now known as the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
But Bleymaier’s most beloved contribution remains the famous blue turf at Albertsons Stadium, which was first installed in 1986.
“It puts a smile on my face, and I’m just very happy that it worked out,” Bleymaier said. “It could have backfired, and I might have had a very short career. Fortunately, it worked out and the community has adopted it as their own. It’s fun to see.”
Some of Bleymaier’s individual honors include the Bobby Dodd Athletic Director of the Year Award in 2011, Astro Turf Athletic Director of the Year Award in 2008 and the Boise Valley Economic Partnership Recognition Award in 2007. He also served a four-year term on the NCAA Division I Management Council and was president of the NCAA I-AA Athletic Directors’ Association.
In 2013, Boise State’s new football operations building was named the Bleymaier Football Center.
Bleymaier also hired some of the most significant coaches in Boise State history, including Chris Petersen, Dan Hawkins, Dirk Koetter, Pokey Allen, Leon Rice, Bobby Dye, Gordy Presnell, June Daugherty, Trisha Stevens, Shawn Garus, Tina Bird, Sam Sandmire and Greg Patton.
Bleymaier is retired. His five-year run as San Jose State’s athletic director ended in 2017.
Joining Bleymaier in the 2020 class are three national champions, an All-American tennis player and a Super Bowl champion.
“I think it’s a tremendous class, and all five of those individuals are more than deserving of that award,” Bleymaier said. “They had phenomenal careers at Boise State, and they’re all a very big reason why the athletic program was as successful as it was in all of those different sports. I’m honored to be associated with those names.”
▪ Emma Bates (women’s cross country/track; 2011-15): The current Olympic hopeful in the marathon won a national title in the 10,000 meters at the 2014 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. She was twice named the Mountain West Female Athlete of the Year (2013-14, 2014-15) and amassed 12 All-America honors and nine conference titles between cross country, indoor track and outdoor track.
▪ Ben Cherrington (wrestling, 2002-06): One of just two wrestlers in Boise State history to win a national title, Cherrington claimed the 157-pound championship at the 2006 NCAA National Championship and finished his senior campaign with a 20-0 record. He was named the Pac-10 Wrestler of the Year and later was chosen for the Pac-12 All-Century Team. Cherrington advanced to nationals in each of his four seasons with the Broncos, winning Pac-10 titles at 149 pounds (2005) and 157 pounds (2006).
▪ Kurt Felix (men’s track & field, 2010-12): He set Boise State, Mountain West and Grenada records with 8,062 points on his way to a national title in the decathlon at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Felix, the 2011-12 Mountain West Male Athlete of the Year, finished his career with seven conference championships, capturing indoor titles in the heptathlon (2010-12) and triple jump (2011), and outdoor titles in the decathlon (2010, 2012) and javelin (2012).
▪ Korey Hall (football, 2002-06): The Glenns Ferry High graduate helped guide the Broncos to an undefeated season and a victory in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. Hall finished his senior campaign as the 2006 Western Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year and a Sporting News All-American. The Broncos went a combined 46-6 overall and won WAC titles in each of his four seasons as a starting middle linebacker. He was selected in the sixth round of the 2007 NFL Draft by Green Bay and went on to win Super Bowl XLV with the Packers.
▪ Luke Shields (men’s tennis, 2005-08): The 2007 USTA Sportsmanship Award winner wrapped up his Boise State career as the all-time leader in singles (118) and doubles (106) victories after leading the Broncos to four straight trips to the NCAA Tournament and three consecutive WAC Championships from 2005 to 2007. Shields earned All-America accolades in both singles and doubles as a freshman and went on to be named the WAC Freshman of the Year. He earned a third All-America honor in singles in 2007, becoming the program’s first three-time All-American.
